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Paulo C. Chagas
Ave Maria
2001
motet for 3 female voices (SSA) , live electronics and surround (5.1) sound space
Commissioned by “Romanischer Sommer Köln”
FP: June 21, 2001, Köln, Festival “Romanischer Sommer Köln”, St. Severin’s Church
Duration: ca 35 min
Who is Maria?
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The popularity and the veneration of the fascinating figure of Mary have significantly grown in 20 century.
Some of the multiple apparitions of the Virgin Mary in different parts of the world – e.g. Fatima, Portugal
(1917); Medjugorje, Croatia (1981) – have attracted millions of people. The instances of Mary became
emblematic of the uncertainty and the ambiguous feelings of the 20th century. Mary – the Virgin Mother of
Jesus – appears basically as a vision of hope in times haunted by war, full of death and suffering.
Mary also has a musical meaning: she embodies the gesture of listening. Mary listens to a voice (from God)
and her body becomes a symbolic medium for both reception (of the Word) and creation (of Jesus). Mary
embodies the gesture of listening as a gesture of fertilization. Listening to music brings vibration to not only
the ears, but also to the entire body: Music transforms body into spirit (Flusser 1994).
Ave Maria ... virgo serena
In his famous four voices motet Ave Maria ... virgo serena (composed ca 1470-80), Josquin des Prez (c.
1450-1521) uses a seven-part text. The five central stanzas deal with the five greatest events in Mary’s life:
conception, nativity, annunciation, purification and assumption. Josquin added two more additional parts: at
the beginning a salutation from Gabriel and at the end the petition ‘O Mater dei, memento mei’ (O Mother of
God, remember me) (Elders: 2000).
Ave Maria . . . Virgo serena synthesises a certain number of Josquin’s compositional techniques. Each of the
seven parts of the text receives a different musical treatment. Josquin constantly varies the counterpoint
density - between two, three and four voices - and interpolates homophonic passages that break the
counterpoint style and create sonic contrasts.
Spectral and temporal information
Ave Maria – a motet for 3 female voices (SSA), live electronics and sound space – focuses on spectral and
temporal information of Josquin’s Ave Maria . . . Virgo serena. The composition can be seen as a process of
analysing and re-synthesizing Josquin’s music. Spectrum and time represent different forms of auditory
perception: spectrum is related to sensations – to mediate perception, and time to thinking - to immediate
perception. Therefore, music can be analysed as a set of spectral and temporal references, whereby
polyphony represents a multi-layered spectral and temporal organisation.
As the basic material of Ave Maria I used a CD recording of Josquin’s motet (by The Hilliard Ensemble). The
analysis consisted of detecting the partials of the spectrum in terms of pitches, amplitudes and durations. This
information has been quantified and interpreted as notes (using IRCAM’s software AudioSculpt and
Patchwork). The composition itself is a free interpretation of the “raw” structures of notes generated by
different quantifications of the partials. Ave Maria has also seven parts and follows linearly the text and the
structure of Josquin’s Ave Maria ... virgo serena (If possible, both pieces should be performed in the same
concert).
Virtual polyphony and sound space
The use of electronics emphasises the spatial dimension of polyphony. The music is projected in a 5.1
channel space surrounding the audience. The three female voices – two sopranos and one contralto – are
amplified and treated by some effects and distributed through the speakers. The electronic transformations
are conceived as very subtle sonic events (sometimes barely audible) and preserve the acoustic qualities of
the voices. Typical effects used in the piece include microtonal pitch shifting, transposition, glissandi,
reverberating filters, as well as the very basic polyphonic technique of imitation, which in this case has been
done by recording one voice and later playing it back.
Live electronics expands the polyphony of Ave Maria by adding “virtual” voices to the three “real” singers and
at the same time, as these voices are spread throughout the surround sound space, by creating virtual
references for polyphonic spatial listening.
References:
Elders. Willem (2000). Symbolism in the Sacred Music of Josquin. In: Richard Sherr (ed.), The Josquin
Companion. 531-568. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Flusser, Vilém (1994). Geste. Versuch einer Phänomenologie. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer.